Word: lull
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...prevailing, but by no means unanimous, view within the Administration is that Hanoi is merely regrouping and re-equipping its forces in preparation for a new assault. This has been the history of previous lulls-and "lull" is a relative term. Fierce fighting continues, and at the end of last week Communist-initiated ground action was accelerating. U.S. military commanders in Viet Nam, pointing to the massive infiltration of troops (150,000 so far this year) from the North, believe that the big attack will come any day and that the main thrust will be aimed at Sai gon itself...
...faces in Viet Nam a situation from which it cannot extricate itself by any Cierna-like meeting. Despite the Paris peace talks and a lull of sorts on the battlefield, the main confrontation is still on the battlefield...
Last week, in fact, Washington stiffened its attitude toward Hanoi and showed that, for the time being, President Johnson appears determined to stick to the U.S.'s full commitment to South Viet Nam. Over the past few weeks, as a lull in ground fighting continued, critics of the war have argued with increasing volume that the lull constituted Hanoi's concession toward peace. As a reciprocal step toward deescalation, they insist, the U.S. should halt all bombing of the North. Last week, Secretary of State Dean Rusk and President Johnson flatly rejected the notion that North Viet...
...power gaps. Intelligence sources also report that captured documents point to ward a "third-wave offensive," coming in the next few weeks. Unit troop movements have been particularly elusive, placing some enemy manpower far out side immediate fighting range; this could be in anticipation of an extended lull, or it could be simply for safe refitting and regrouping. In fact, the evidence is ambiguous, and as with Hanoi's unenlightening silence, the Administration has chosen to interpret it pessimistically. If there is more fighting, both sides will try to use it to improve their bargaining positions in the peace...
This, I now know, went on all day in triplicate. Each hotel was broken out of its lull for only a minute or two, until the candidate went upstairs to meet with a delegation, but the candidates and their staff were working all day long...